Method for extracting fruit and vegetable juices

ABSTRACT

According to a method for extracting fruit or vegetable juices, the fruit is reduced in order to produce mash. The mash obtained from said fruit is then juiced. According to the invention, peel components are added to a/the mash before juicing. Stalk, core and/or peel components are preferably separated from the mash produced from the reduced fruit and the peel components and/or other materials are fed back into a/the mash before said mash is juiced.  
     Bei einem Verfahren zur Gewinnung von Obst- oder Gemüsesäften werden die Früchte zur Gewinnung von Maische zerkleinert und die aus den zerkleinerten Früchten gewonnene Maische wird entsaftet. Erfindungsgemäss weden einer/der Maische vor dem Entsaften Schalenbestandteile Zugesetzt. Vorzugsweise werden aus der aus den Zerkleinerten Früchten gewonnenen Maische Stiel-, Kern- und/oder Schalenbestandteil abgetrennt, woraufhin die Schalenbestandteile und/o der andere Stoffe vor dem Entsaften der Maische in eine/die Maische zurückgeleited werden.

[0001] The invention relates to a method of extracting fruit andvegetable juices, the fruit being reduced in order to produce mash andthe mash obtained from the reduced fruit being juiced.

[0002] A method of the above-mentioned type in which a naturally cloudyfruit or vegetable juice is to be obtained is known from European PatentDocument EP 0 545 944 B1. According to this document, a mash obtainedfrom reduced fruit is separated into flesh parts and juice in asolid-jacket screw-type centrifuge. The separation of insoluble fruitflesh parts by means of the solid-jacket screw-type centrifuge takesplace immediately after the reduction of the fruit, and immediatelythereafter, an inactivation takes place of pectolytic enzymes andpolyphenol oxidases of the fruit by heating the juice draining out ofthe solid-jacket screw-type centrifuge.

[0003] As explicitly described in European Patent Document EP 0 545 944B1, a mash is first obtained from the fruit by means of a grindingprocess. In a next process step, the mash is juiced (see FIG. 1). Inthis case, the physical structure of the mash plays an important role.

[0004] In addition to being extracted by means of solid-jacketscrew-type centrifuges, juices an also be obtained by means of presses.The usable presses include discontinuously operating presses as well asbelt and screw-type presses. For obtaining juice, screw-type pressesare, however, used only to a limited extent. They are used morefrequently in the field of the production of wine and fruit wine.

[0005] When obtaining juice, it is also possible to usefull-liquefaction enzymes. In this case, the structure of the mash isimpaired because, for reasons of taste, solids, such as stalks, coresand peels, are separated from the mash. This usually takes place bymeans of so-called finishers (for example, sieving machines; see FIG.2). The structural impairment of the mash can at least largely becompensated by adding pressing aids (see FIG. 3). According to the stateof the art, inorganic or organic substances are essentially used aspressing aids, which improve the physical structure of the mash. Ricehusks, balm wood or perlites are used most frequently. However, thesesubstances cause additional cost and therefore make the juice productionmore expensive. In addition, despite their partly natural origin, theyrepresent a foreign substance, which is undesirable per se, in therespective natural fruit juice product.

[0006] Based on the above, it is an object of the invention to increasethe quality of the mash when extracting fruit juice.

[0007] The invention achieves this goal by means of the object ofClaim 1. In contrast to the state of the art, according to the teachingof the invention, peel components are added to another or the same mashbefore the juicing—particularly after an optional separation of stalksor cores. This teaching is based on the idea of increasing the qualityof the mash to be juiced by adding peel components. Peel components haveno negative taste characteristics, but improve the structure of themash. This applies essentially to any type of juicing.

[0008] According to a particularly preferred embodiment of theinvention, the stalk, core and peel components are separated in afinisher from the mash obtained from the reduced fruit; then the peelcomponents are separated from the remaining solids components and,before their juicing, are returned into a/the mash. This embodiment ofthe invention is also very suitable for a juice extraction in which fullliquefaction enzymes are used. In particular, the invention utilizes therecognition that, although for reasons of taste a separation of thestalks and cores from the mash is required, a separation of the peelcomponents has no effect on the taste. The reason is that particularlythe separation of the peel components results in a structural impairmentof the mesh. This is prevented by returning the peel components. Incontrast to the state of the art, it is even possible to eliminate theadding of other aids, which are not part of the fruit and causeadditional costs.

[0009] The use of the invention for juicing by means of a solid-jacketscrew-type centrifuge is particularly advantageous.

[0010] It is also particularly advantageous when, in step c according toClaim 1, peel components from the same mash or from another fruit mashoccurring during the juicing are added to the mash to be juiced. Herealso, it is particularly advantageous for the juicing to take place bymeans of a solid-jacket screw-type centrifuge.

[0011] Additional advantageous embodiments of the invention arecontained in the additional subclaims.

[0012] Theoretically, it is also conceivable to intermediately store aportion or all separated peel components and then add them to otherfruit mashes. Thus, for example, when obtaining apple or pear juice, thepeel components can be separated and then not be returned into the mashbut, for obtaining a fruit juice from another type of fruit, be admixedto the mash made of this other type of fruit for improving the mashstructure.

[0013] It is also conceivable to increase the fraction of peelcomponents beyond the natural content of the original fruit and therebyimprove the characteristics of the mash—for example, for obtaining aparticularly high-quality and expensive juice.

[0014] It is also conceivable to optimize the effect of the peelcomponents by a grinding—for example, finer or coarser adapted to thecharacteristics of the original fruit.

[0015] It is also conceivable to subject the peel components to athermal treatment before they are added to a mash. As a result, thestructure of the peel components is strengthened and a durability isachieved simultaneously.

[0016] The separation of the peel components from the other solids canbe carried out in a manner which is simple per se. It is also known, forexample, from the extraction of grape rape for producing grape seed oil.It therefore represents no technical difficulties to a person skilled inthe art. However, a novelty of the present process is that, after theseparation of the core and stalk components, the peel components arereturned into the mash in order to improve its structure. The returningof the peels results in a clear improvement of the mash structure andtherefore in an improved extraction of juice from the mash. Thus, theadvantage of, for example, the full liquefaction is utilized withouthaving to accept the disadvantage of the impaired mashcharacteristics—particularly the disadvantage of the poor juiceabilityof the mash.

[0017] In the following, the invention will be described in detail bymeans of embodiments with reference to the state of the art.

[0018]FIG. 1 is a flow chart for illustrating a standard process forextracting juice according to the state of the art;

[0019]FIG. 2 is a flow chart of the extraction of juice, for example, bymeans of a full liquefaction without additional aids according to thestate of the art;

[0020]FIG. 3 is a flow chart, for example, of a full liquefaction, whileadding pressing aids after the separation of the peel, stalk and corecomponents according to the state of the art;

[0021]FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a method of extracting juice with areturn of peels according to the invention;

[0022]FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a method of producing cloudy juice witha return of peels according to the invention.

[0023] According to FIG. 4, the fruit or vegetable starting material isground in a first operating step. This is followed by an (optional)heating of the mash obtained during the grinding and the separation ofpeels and cores in a finisher. The thus obtained mash is intermediatelystored in intermediate tanks, in which case enzymes (for example, forthe full liquefaction) can optionally be added to the mash. Parallelthereto, the peel components are separated from the stalk and corecomponents, for example, in a sieve or in a centrifuge. The stalk andcore components can now be disposed of and/or separately processed. Incontrast, the peel components, together with the intermediate mashproduct removed from the intermediate tanks, are fed into a mixer inorder to improve the structure of the mash by returning the peelcomponents to the mash. Subsequently, the actual juicing takes placewhile separating the rape. For improving its storage capacity, theobtained juice can then also be subjected to a thermal treatmentfollowing the juicing.

[0024] For obtaining a naturally cloudy juice, an adaptation of theprocess according to the teaching of FIG. 5 is recommended. In thiscase, again, the fruit is first ground and is juiced after passingthrough a mixer. If desired, the adding of enzymes takes place as wellas a further juicing of the intermediately stored mash. Following theactual juicing, it is possible to subject the juice to a thermaltreatment. From the juiced rape, the peel components are now alsoseparated, for example, by means of a sieving, and are returnedpreferably alone or together with other desired components/substancesinto the mash to be processed. In the mixer, the mixing of the returnedpeel components and a/the mash takes place. The separation of the peelcomponents, deviating from the representation of FIG. 5, may naturallyalso already take place after the first juicing step.

1. Method of extracting fruit or vegetable juices, wherein a) the fruitis reduced for obtaining a mash, b) the mash obtained from the reducedfruit is juiced, characterized in that c) peel components are added toanother or the same mash before the juicing.
 2. Method according toclaim 1, characterized in that the peel components are obtained fromfruit.
 3. Method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that stalk,core and/or peel components are separated from the mash, whereupon thepeel components are separated from the remaining solids componentsseparated from the mash and, before the juicing of the mash, arereturned into a/the mash.
 4. Method according to claim 1, 2 or 3,characterized in that, when extracting a naturally cloudy juice, thepeel components are separated from the rape separated during thejuicing, and are returned into a/the mash to be juiced.
 5. Methodaccording to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the peelcomponents are added to a/the mash after the adding of enzymes to themash.
 6. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterizedin that the peel components are added to a mash after an adding of fullliquefaction enzymes.
 7. Method according to one of the precedingclaims, characterized in that a fraction of peel components is added toa/the mash which exceeds the natural peel quantity fraction of the usedfruit.
 8. Method according one of the preceding claims, characterized inthat the peel components are separated from the other solids componentsseparated from the mash, by means of sieving and/or centrifuging. 9.Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that,before the addition to a/the mash, the peel components are subjected toa thermal treatment.
 10. Method according to one of the precedingclaims, characterized in that the non-peel constituents are subjected toa/the further utilization.
 11. Method according to one of the precedingclaims, characterized in that the mash obtained from the reduced fruitis juiced by means of a solid-jacket screw-type centrifuge. Translationof Figures: